The other Lily
by VonGikkingen
Summary: Lily goes to grab a drink only to find that local bar is run by none other than Tiger Lily - a strange character that doesn't appreciate suddenly becoming "the other Lily"...
1. Chapter 1

"So we meet at last…" I said. Melodrama wasn't exactly frowned upon around these parts, which was good, because I felt like making this dramatic.

It wasn't like there was all that much fun to be had between the constant attacks by all sorts of magical nastiness. And now here was a perfectly quiet moment and the newcomer just barged into my establishment. The worried look on her face when she realized I was talking to her was totally worth the trouble of keeping my poker face on.

" _The other Lily_ … You're shorter than I expected," I said walking toward her. I had the idea of circling around her, sizing her up, but I quickly realized it would make me miss her expression – and I loved the effect I was having.

"The _other_ … Lily?" she frowned, confused.

"Yes. That would be you, since I've been here first."

"I'm sorry, but who are you and what exactly do you think…?"

"Tiger Lily," I said, dropping my dramatic expression. "Nice to finally meet you," I offered her my hand.

After a moment of hesitation she shook it.

"Tiger Lily. Of course…" she nodded thoughtfully. "I should have known. I mean knowing what people in this town are is one thing, but actually meeting them…"

"I know. Freaky, isn't it? And some of them are _not_ what you're expecting. Wait till you see what Pinocchio looks like these days," I grinned. "So what can I get you?"

I turned and headed back behind the bar, not waiting for her response. It was clear that was her reason for showing up in the first place, since she clearly didn't know that this bar was ran by her namesake.

"You're a barkeep?" I heard her say. Going by her tone she didn't find it very compatible with being a fairy tale character.

"We all multitask here," I shrugged and waited for her to join me at the bar.

"Yes, I'm starting to get the picture."

"Oh but you're not. Because whatever you're thinking, it's worse. There's a whole world out there and they all think they know our stories. And they _don't_. With most of us it's weirder and messier than anyone suspects. And it really gets to people here. Not that I'm complaining – it keeps me in business. But having to hear Whale's drunken monologues about how he's not a monster, really…" I made a face. "We've got issues. Individually... and as a community."

"I think I'll be adding to that," she said apologetically.

"You will?"

"I can turn into a dragon," she said, averting her eyes as she waited for my reaction. And though few of my customers started choking on their drinks overhearing what she just said, I only laughed.

"Awesome."

"What?"

"Well, isn't it? I don't think you quite get how this town works. We're getting attacked by stuff _all the time_. Usually by people we didn't even know had any reason to be pissed at us. I mean – even our ice cream lady turned out to be evil. It's really hard to feel safe around here," I said. "But now we have a dragon. You're staying, right?"

"For now," she admitted.

"You're staying and you can turn into _a dragon_. That's good for the rest of us you know. You might not want to see the place you live in turned into new Neverland or taken over by the Dark Ones… And you can actually do something about it," I said, feeling my smile brightening. This felt like very good news indeed.

"You know telling her all that might just change her mind about staying, right?" said Little John from his seat at the end of the bar.

"Oh, hush. Did turning into a flying monkey change your mind about staying?"

"People get turned into flying monkeys around here?" said Lily in mock horror.

"Now she's definitely leaving…"

"Of course she's not. Not after she found a bar where she'll be getting considerable discounts…"

That made her smile and made the rest of us much calmer. At least for the next few hours she was not going anywhere. Now just wait and see how drunk she would have to get before she started talking backstory – which was a waiting game I was playing with everyone every single evening ever since the original curse was broken.

"Hey gorgeous, can I have some whiskey over here?"

"That depends," I said, turning to the newcomer. "Can I have some explanation?"

"I have a drinking problem. Since when do you need that explained…?" said the doctor taking his usual seat by the bar. "Unless you mean the hair…"

"Of course I mean the hair. Did you lose a bet?"

"Can you believe the service in this place…?" he said, shaking his head. "Why do I bother coming here…?"

"You like the view," I reminded him as I handed him a glass of whiskey. "Or did you mean the whole bottle? You look like you had a whole bottle kind of day…"

"I delivered a baby today," he said in a way of explanation.

"Did you get thrown against a wall again?" I grinned. Until I saw his expression. "You _did_ _?_ "

This time I wasn't the only one fighting down very inappropriate laughter. As annoyed as he was at us for finding it amusing, he left it without comment.

"See what I mean?" I said to the other Lily. "The weirdness of this place is off the charts. You'll fit right in."

"Are you sure you're not saying it just because you like the idea to have a dragon to sort out the weirdness?" she replied with amused smile.

"We have _a dragon_?" said doctor Whale, nearly choking on his drink. "Since when?"

"Do you pay any attention to what goes on in this town?"

"I would if I had the time. And if it was even possible to sort out at this point… If we had a dragon I'd be seeing lot more people with burns," he said, imagining I was probably just making it up. Which was almost offensive. I had too much respect for good gossip to make stuff up.

"You do know it doesn't work like that, right? Ruby was here since day one – and how many cases of wolf bites did we have…? Exactly," I smiled sweetly as I watched him trying to follow that logic. "Not to mention no one got hurt during that bear attack we had…"

"We had a bear attack?" he said giving me a _now I know you make these things up_ look.

"You really only hear about things when they show up at the ER, don't you?"

"Or when they throw him at a wall," said Little John, pretending there was something very interesting in his beer when the doctor gave him the _not amused_ look.

"I mean, do you need any more reasons to stay?" I smiled at my namesake who was following this whole conversation with great interest.

"There were reasons to stay? I think I must have missed them…"

"Good thing you have a few of your own. You're still here, aren't you?" I said refilling her glass.

Whatever her reasons were, all I had to do to get to them was wait – and keep the drinks coming of course. That was all I ever needed to be the best informed person around.

People living the kinds of messy, complicated lives we were living needed to talk. My way of coping was a little different. I _listened_. And I remembered. And suspected that it was the biggest reason why my bar didn't burn down during one of our many crises and my customers rarely got attacked by something nasty… There was no such thing as too many stories, really, not if you knew how to keep up. I found the best way was to treat every single one of them as equally important. The stories of princes and witches were no more important than stories of thieves or mad scientist or shapeshifting dragons.

"So…" I started. And that was as far as I got.

"So there was a bear attack? Are you _sure_ … How the hell did a bear get over the town line…?" said the doctor, clearly distrusting me as a source.

"It was a magic bear attack. You know, _magic_. That thing that usually gets you hurt…?" I grinned. "Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Magic bear?" asked Lily, finding the idea funny going by her expression.

"It's like this…" I started. And just like that I forgot I had a customer I wanted to interrogate about her past. That could wait. If I wanted to keep my business afloat I had to keep my customers alive – and the way to do that was help them keep up with what the hell was going on. "We have a new princess in town."

"A _princess_ that can turn into a bear?" repeated Lily disbelievingly.

"Wait. The redhead?" asked the doctor, suddenly paying a lot more attention. "Oh I like the look of her…"

"You like the look of anything in a skirt. You'd love it in her kingdom… They're really big on kilts," I clarified, since I was the only one who got the joke.

"Dun Broch? Wait isn't that the place where half of the royal family got turned into bears…?" joined Little John.

"Will you let me tell it or not…?" I turned to him with my best stern look.

They did.

And it wasn't the only story that got told that night. From bears we got to dragons at last. Dragons and magically sped up pregnancies and our former Savior turning all monochromatic and all sorts of other weirdness… All in all it was a very successful night. No one managed to get themselves killed or maimed which was always a plus.

"Remember, you shouldn't drink and fly…" I told the other Lily seeing her to the door sometime after midnight.

"I won't," she smiled. And I knew she'll be back.

And the idea of a dragon inside a building that was very flammable even before I decided to stock it full of alcohol – well, it didn't seem as bad as one would think. I quite enjoyed not being the only Lily around.

"So she can turn into a _dragon_?" came voice from the darkness of the bar.

"Weren't you listening…?"

"She doesn't look like a princess…"

"She's not… Oh, how hard did you hit that wall?" I sighed and went back to get him.

"Very funny."

"I know. That's me, the funny Lily."

"Rather than the _potentially lethal Lily_."

"She seemed pretty tame to me," I grinned, supporting him in his unsteady walk.

"Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do like the look of her…"

"Of course you do," I laughed and sent the unsteady doctor on his way. With him gone I knew for certain my work was done. For tonight. But tomorrow was a whole new day, with potential for new madness.

Good thing I happened to befriend a dragon...


	2. Chapter 2

"If you're wondering if that extreme discount extends to family members the answer is yes. Have a seat," I said when Lily's mom showed up in my establishment on what seemed like a normal day. Oh, who was I kidding – there were no such things as normal days…

"Love the outfit by the way. Very classy. So what can I get you…?"

She only looked at me, clearly confused by my overly friendly tone. It took me a while to catch up to the fact that this was a woman that spend most of her life feared and despised. Of course she was regarding me with suspicion…

"Sorry. I met your daughter the other day," I said tuning down my smile a bit. "Tiger Lily," I offered. "At your service. Now what can I get you…?"

"Maleficent," she said in reply.

"I know. Unlike me, you're very famous. Is that a pocket watch? I love those things…" I grinned.

"Are you always this talkative?"

"No. I'm a listener, usually. Just have the feeling with you it'll be my job to keep the conversation going," I shrugged. "Now seriously, where did you get that watch? It's really lovely. Kind of a Wonderland vibe, but it still works on you…"

Ignoring my questions she ordered a drink and probably hoped I would move on and focus on other customers – all of whom seemed to go pretty tense in the last few minutes. Clearly they were under the impression I was playing with fire. I wasn't. The other Lily – that would be the by-the-way-I-can-turn-into-a-dragon Lily – actually told me a great deal about her mother and she sounded nothing like the monster we heard about in our homelands.

Not that I was exactly surprised by that. There usually was more than one side to every story.

"So how come you're here?" I said handing her the drink she ordered. "You don't have that _I need a drink_ expression."

"Lily, why don't you stop with the questions…?" said one of my regulars giving me a pleading look, "The lady clearly doesn't want to be disturbed."

"None of us ever wanted to be disturbed, yet here we all are. Sometimes you just don't get a say in these things. All that's up to us is how we cope – now my thing is talking…"

"I noticed," said Maleficent with a grimace that fortunately seemed quite amused.

"But only when I don't get to do the other thing I do so well," I said smiling right back at her. "Which is _listen_ …"

"I've got nothing to tell you young lady," she answered in a tone that didn't really sound like a warning.

And maybe she really thought she didn't have much to tell me, but then again everyone used to think that. Until they didn't.

"Nothing to tell me _yet_ ," I smiled. And left her to drink in peace for the time being – but only because the redhead with the funny accent just walked in and she left me mid-narration yesterday. Knowing she might be gone any day now I really wanted to get some more out of her.

"Well hello there. Ale, right?" I said – and that was me pretty much done with preliminaries. "So here's something that's been bothering me. You know how you turned your mother into a bear."

"Is someone likely to forget something like that…?" grinned Anton the Giant before I gave him my _let me do my thing_ look to shut him up.

"And when you turned her back again – you said everyone was there. I assume you meant the other clans…"

"They were," said Merida, clearly not seeing where I was going with this.

"So these guys saw you break a curse right in front of them not to mention fight off a demon bear…"

"My mother did that," corrected Merida.

"Still. You stood your ground while there was a monster attacking you. And they all _saw that_. And they still thought it was a good idea to go against you? It didn't seem… I don't know, _suicidal_ to them…?"

Merida only laughed so I added. "Not to mention abducting your brothers who _used to be bears_. I hate to say this but… A lot of your subjects must have a serious death wish."

"That's why I need to return home as soon as possible. Someone needs to keep an eye on them…"

I nodded. She was pretty justified to be in a hurry to get out of town.

"Subjects?" said Maleficent, surprising us all. "Aren't you a little young to be a queen…?"

"Oh, not you too," said Merida, making a face. She's been hearing comments like that her whole life, I was certain – and they didn't always remarked on her age, either.

"Age doesn't really enter into it. Some people were born to lead. Some people were born to creep everyone out," I said nodding my head in the direction of our weirdo of a doctor. "And everyone has the power to rewrite their story. Though why would they – such an awful chore…"

"Are you fine with your story?" asked Merida.

"Are you kidding? I'm living the dream…" I said gesturing at the bar filled with fairy tale characters.

"You have some strange dreams," said Merida shaking her head.

I let that without comment, since it had a lot to do with cultural differences. Besides, she wasn't wrong. It felt as a dream that I now owned both of my lives – the one that was mine and the one that was a sad shadow of it, 28 years long nightmare devoid of magic. I kept the job that was once upon a curse meant to drive me mad with the boredom of it, just to prove myself it really couldn't. And it didn't.

The boredom was long gone now and people still needed to drink their troubles away, especially since we had more trouble than ever. And here I was, feeling very much myself despite the weirdness of my circumstances.

But then, my circumstances certainly weren't the weirdest around. "I know why you're really here, you know," I said returning my attention to the more dangerous of my customers.

"Do you now…" said Maleficent, her expression expressing some serious doubts.

"You want to know if I'm a bad influence. I know the story, you know. Lily told me. Darkness follows her no matter what she does… And you want to know if I'm it," I said keeping my voice low. Strange feeling since I couldn't really remember last time I did that.

"A bad influence? You? You seem such a ray of sunshine," she said. And she probably wanted to make it sarcastic but didn't quite deliver. Well it was hard to say it without meaning it – I was after all.

"I'm exactly what I seem."

"Nosy and incredibly optimistic for someone who's been living in this town for so long…?" she said.

"Curious. Not in a curioser and curioser kind of way… Sooner or later we all need to tell our stories. There should be someone who'll listen – but I _really_ listen. That's why people tell me," I shrugged. She studied me for a long moment, unblinking.

"I don't feel like telling you anything," she said then, very quietly.

"Not yet. That's part of it too. You'll know when the time comes. And now you'll also know where to find me."

She only shook her head at my confidence. Except it wasn't, not really – more of an awareness of my track record. She'll get talkative one day. Not today, that was clear. But then I had others to turn my attention on.

"So you were telling me – before you went completely incomprehensible – that someone got turned into a bear at your coronation," I said to Merida.

"Oh no. There was a witch and she did threaten to turn all my subjects into bears, but…" she said a little confused by how quickly this turned to another question about her kingdom even though I was completely focused at Maleficent just a second ago.

"But," I said, raising my hand to stop her, "you saved the day."

She only grinned and handed me her glass for a refill. "Right. Let's hear all about. Wonderland rules – begin at the beginning."

"What's… Wonderland?" frowned Merida.

"Oh you lucky, lucky girl…" I said, for a moment genuinely envious that she never even heard of that madhouse.

"I heard that," said Maleficent, surprising me.

"Heard what?" I asked. She gave me a smile as she paid for her drink.

"There's a story there…" she said as she got up and walked off.

And with that insight, she was gone. Exit that wouldn't be more impressive if she did her usual _disappearing in a puff of smoke_ thing. I shook my head and wondered if she heard something or only guessed…

But then I remembered there was a story I was meant to be getting out of Merida and besides, that conversation wasn't exactly over. Oh no, this was only the beginning.


	3. Chapter 3

"So I stopped by the Library," said Lily on entering my establishment.

"And now here you are. Yes, reading our supposed stories tends to send people drinking," I smiled and looked up from the glass I was polishing.

"And I picked up this," she said, putting a book on the bar. I didn't have to look to know it didn't have a picture of that little creep Peter Pan on the cover.

"So… it has come to this," I said in grave tones.

"You know people outside of stories don't actually say stuff like…" I gave her a meaningful look that made her not even bother finishing that sentence.

"But you're not exactly outside anymore. And stuff like that just wants to be said. Dark and stormy nights want to happen. And don't even get me started on tall dark strangers…" I said. "There is no once upon a time – there is only _now_."

"And there is no changing the subject," said Lily, tapping the cover of her book lightly. " _Now_ – start talking."

"Wrong genre. This isn't where I start talking – this is where you tell me your theories. Your _deductions_ , if you will."

Having a hard time keeping a straight face as she realized where I was going with this. And it was only a matter of time before one of us said – in a very dramatic tone – that solving this particular mystery was _elementary_.

"Come on now," I said to Lily, "tell me who the killer is…"

"Queen of Hearts of course," she said, catching me by surprise. A glass slipped out of my hand and smashed on the floor, alarming everyone.

"You are _good_ ," I said, frankly amazed. I was. I was ready to believe she'll find her father before the week was out. That was until I saw how much my amazement amazed her.

"I'm sorry…" she said apologetically seeing my expression. "It was just a guess. Educated guess. She… didn't sound pleasant," said Lily.

" _Off with their heads_?" I said, managing to say those words without the familiar bitterness for once.

" _Off with their heads_ ," nodded Lily.

"Pretty big clue," I said with a smile. "And about the only thing in that book you can take seriously."

"Not the only one. It does mention a Tiger Lily," she said taping her finger on the cover of the book again.

"Ah, yes. A talking flower if I remember correctly."

"And there is a Lily that apparently went missing in _Through the Looking Glass_ ," said the doctor who until now gave the impression of someone who understood this was a private conversation.

"Right. I better set you straight before you start taking that thing too seriously," I said frowning at the slim volume of barely familiar tales. "It doesn't begin to cover how mad the Queen of Hearts was, it describes the Jabberwocky as a thing rather than a creepy witch locked up in a tower with a sword stuck in her abdomen, doesn't say that the Red Queen is a gold digger or what kind of weird voodoo the March Hare got up to…"

I stopped where I noticed the looks. _All_ of the looks. I was pretty sure I talked about myself before this day, but I probably didn't get this specific.

Except – that wasn't it and I knew it. I _never_ talked about Wonderland. Neverland was fine, I kept dropping anecdotes from Neverland whenever the talk died down a little. But Neverland was harmless in my mind, while the other place was more… Well, to put it mildly Wonderland was a land of my PTSD nightmares and talking about it out loud felt like summoning them.

"My mother told me you might want to talk about it," said Lily, breaking the strange silence.

"She did?"

"Well, you did keep dropping all kind of Wonderland comments lately," said the doctor still ignoring this was once upon a time a private conversation.

"I was?" I said not quite believing him.

"We had a lot of frabjous days," confirmed Lily. "And we _spoke of many things_..."

"That's what made me read it," said doctor Whale pointing at the book.

"You could have saved yourself the time. It's really not very accurate," I said in a weak voice. They didn't even answer, only gave me a look.

And by the way the rest of the customers tried their hardest not to look at me I knew they were listening. Of course they were. All those stories they trusted me with and here I was, finally getting ready to get one of my own out in the open – and not just any story either, my _origin story_.

"It's not exactly a fairy tale…" I started as something within me rebelled.

"Remember the last story I was telling you, about the time I was grave digging…" said the doctor, sending a clear message about my chances of talking my way out of this one.

"I was born in Wonderland. And one day I had to choose between running and losing my head. It's actually a pretty common story. We have a support group and everything…"

"But we never heard about it because…?" said Lily raising her eyebrows.

"It's a fight club kind of thing," said Will Scarlet from one of the tables. Adding a whole lot of credibility to something I actually meant as a joke.

I took a deep breath realizing that this was really happening. I was going to do that thing I usually only do to my copy of _Alice's adventures in Wonderland_. Set the record straight.

I was going to need a drink.

"Now wait just a second. Wasn't Queen of Hearts Regina's mother?" asked Lily suddenly in her _I hope I remember this right_ tone.

"Yes…" I said, since that was no secret.

"Who just showed up here in town one day? And then…" she frowned trying to remember the complicated family history of the most heroic people in town. "Then… Snow White killed her, though technically Rumplestiltskin was responsible…"

"Oh yes. _That_. I like to remember it as the time I had to close up for a few days because I was busy hiding under my bed…" I said. And that was a funny story too – at least the way I could tell it once I got some alcohol into my system. But we were talking Wonderland and that meant there were rules.

 _Begin at the beginning_ , I thought unhappily as I poured myself a drink.

"Once upon a time…" I began uncertainly, "… _in Wonderland_ …"

Some three hours later I finally stopped, feeling almost physically exhausted. But… better somehow. Not emptier as I expected. I felt how they must have felt, all the others needing to talk more than I ever needed to listen. I always had the feeling I was helping people, but now I _knew_ how much difference being heard actually made.

"That was…" started Lily as my silence grew and it became clear I won't be adding anything. I came to the end, now it was time to stop.

"That was some scary stuff," said Will Scarlet who should have known better than anyone that scary was just how things were over there.

"We all have scary backstories," I shrugged. "Whatever gave people the idea that fairy tales are fun…?"

That for some reason got people moving. Apparently I got a pass tonight and got to close early. Before the clock struck twelve even... If I knew that's the effect it will have, I'd get talkative ages ago.

"So… How is it going with the other mystery?" I said turning to Lily who was now the last person left in the bar.

"Not great. I'm not really detective material," she admitted.

"Not everyone has the right mind for mysteries. And… you didn't even solve this one," I said waiting for her shocked expression before I grinned and said. "Elementary as it was. Anyway… Remind me to thank Maleficent. I would never even entertain sharing my horror stories if it wasn't for that little reminder," I gestured towards the book.

"And maybe it's just a case of not being as much of a mystery as you think you are," she said overly casually as she studied her nails.

"It's pronounced _enigma_ ," I said, pretending to be offended.

"Sure you are," she grinned. And started flipping through the pages of that far from accurate Wonderland book while I started to clean up the place.

"Right," I said a few minutes later, remembering that _clean_ is very relative term. "Closing time. Time to go and look for footprints of gigantic hounds."

"I still can't believe you're not an Indian princess," said Lily shaking her head as she headed for the door.

"I'm pretty sure we have more than enough of those in this town. Personally I'm glad I wasn't asked to join the Princess club."

"Unless that's what you want me to believe," laughed Lily, "because you're not supposed to talk about Princess club…"

I gave her my best _you'll never know_ look and proceeded to lock up the place. First early night I had since I freaked out that time Cora came to town… and Peter Pan and his band of juvenile delinquents showed up… and that time evil ice cream lady temporarily turned us all into rage monsters…

"What do people do when they have their evening to themselves?" I asked as we started walking down the street. I was sure I knew the answer once, but that seemed such a long time ago.

"Don't ask me. I'm still spending all my evenings trying to cope with the fact everyone is a fairy tale character…"

"You too?" I said with expression of wide-eyed surprise. And with that I said my goodbyes and went on my way.

Considering that we were just about due for a new villain the best thing I could do was spend a quiet night in – which in Storybrooke usually meant contemplating my life choices and making last minute changes to my will…

Sounded like a plan.


End file.
